Gates was shot in the neck about 3:10 p.m. in the Birch Park housing community off Hess on Saginaw's southeast side, said Saginaw Police Detective Sgt. Joseph Dutoi.

The shooting, in which 21-year-old Albert Franklin also was shot, occurred after three large fights at the complex, Dutoi said.

Gates, who lived in Saginaw, was pronounced dead at the scene, Dutoi said. Franklin suffered a “minor” graze wound to the shoulder and was treated and released at a hospital, Dutoi said.

Officers were dispatched to the complex about 11:30 a.m. for a fight involving about 20 people, Dutoi said. About an hour later, officers again were dispatched to the complex for a fight, this time with approximately 50 people involved, he said.

Officers were on their way to responding to a third fight when the shooting was reported moments later, Dutoi said.

Saginaw police and the Saginaw County Major Crimes Unit are investigating the homicide but are experiencing difficulty in obtaining statements from witnesses, Dutoi said.

“There was at least 100 to 200 people out there,” he said. “Those people have a responsibility to come forward.”

The complex has security cameras, but the complex was experiencing electricity problems at the time, Dutoi said. Police are “looking into it to see if the backup generators were working the cameras, which would have caught the entire incident,” Dutoi said.

Police “fear there may be retaliation,” Dutoi said, possibly in the complex.

“All those young single mothers who live there should be concerned for their children's safety,” Dutoi said. “They should be knocking down the doors of the Saginaw Police Department to tell us what they saw.”